Resin Letters Keychain: 2 Ways

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Learn how to make a resin letters keychain using two different fun methods: pouring on an acrylic surface and using a mold. When you’re done, learn how to make a flower in resin pendant too. This post contains affiliate links.

This Hanukkah, among my kids’ gifts I tried to include a DIY to teach them the value of creating things yourself. I created a resin letter keychain for each of them (besides Baby Jay – he’d just eat his.)

They loved it, and for A, age three, it adds the value of her learning her first initial!

A resin letter keychain makes for a fabulous sales item. It can be made in bulk, doesn’t use up too much supplies, doesn’t take too long, and feels very custom. Stock it in your shop and sell it at an affordable price.

It’s also a fabulous gift – and you can even use it as a functional gift tag (which is how I gifted it to my kids).

How to make a resin letter keychain two ways

In this post, I teach you how to create a resin letter keychain using two different processes. Both use molds to form the letters, however, one is a full-letter keychain and one has the letters on an acrylic blank.

Using an Acrylic Blank

The acrylic blank method is in a way easier and allows you to add more than one initial. Therefore, it can feel more custom.

You don’t need to use a mold to form the tiny letters – you can purchase small plastic letters. That’ll save you a step, however, you’ll run into the problem of having more of some letters and not enough of others.

Creating them from a resin mold allows you to make them as you need it.

I tend to stock blanks for making acrylic keychains with my Cricut. They are extremely useful, and I’ve used them as easy party favors (such as these DIY rainbow keychains I made for A’s first birthday).

This method uses much less resin than the full-resin method.

I honestly think that the full-letter keychains just look better, but it’s a matter of opinion.

Note: you can also combine crafts with this. You can do the resin design on one side and add vinyl initials on the other, even sealing the letters with some resin.

Using Alphabet Molds

The full-resin letter keychain used a large alphabet mold to create a pretty layered design. You can relax, add what you’d like, play with colors, and take your time with it.

As an unapologetic crazy creative, I really enjoyed making these – and my kids loved that I made it for them!

One of the biggest disadvantages of this method is that you need to drill a hole for the keychain to go through. You also might find that UV resin doesn’t cure as well at such a depth (more on that soon).

And finally, I had skipped a critical step – which I’ll advise you on – that definitely had an impact.

Resin Type, Fill-ins and Embellishments

If you haven’t yet read up on the different types of resin you’ll want to do that. The main types are two part epoxy resin that air-cures and UV resin that cures using a lamp.

Two part resin has limited work time and UV resin can be worked for much longer and is cured manually.

The biggest disadvantage of UV resin (besides for having to somewhat supervise the curing process) is that it’s pricier. For that reason, I prefer to use it for smaller projects like jewelry – DIY resin earrings and resin pendants, and, you guessed it, resin letter keychains!

For things like DIY epoxy resin coasters, I use two-part resin.

For the acrylic blank keychain, I used metallic resin dye on the letters and blue microbeads on the resin coating. I added some mini metal sea themed embellishments.

On M’s keychain, I used white opaque resin dye to tint some layers of the resin.

I added in silver flakes and undrilled gemstone chips.

I love the combination, and it may be my favorite of all that I made.

And at this stage, my critical mistake that I made is starting to show: I didn’t zap it with a heat gun. That resulted in awful air pockets. To be honest, I didn’t do it, because knowing that I was crafting it for us and not to sell, I didn’t care if a few bubbles seeped in. I used a toothpick to get to the corners but… as you can see, the heat gun is a critical step that you should not skip in resin crafts!

I went all-in with the beach theme on Y’s. The base was tinted using blue resin dye.

I added in some sand (natural and white), mini seashells, and gemstone chips. The big mistake I made: the sand is VERY hard to drill through. Make sure to leave a space for drilling on all your designs. Your best bet is to keep it free from embellishments at all.

And finally, A’s was left transparent. I used mini baby’s breath and rose gold flakes to add a little sparkle and shine.

Method 1: Making a Resin Letter Keychain Using an Acrylic Blank

I’m going to share how I did the acrylic blank method step by step first and then share the full-letter mold. Regarding the “embellishments” and dyes, I’ll be sharing in the materials list what I used but of COURSE you can use whatever you’d like.

Materials Needed

Process

Mix your letter dye color with resin in the cup, pour into the mold. Zap with the heat gun and cure according to resin package instructions.

Mix together your dye, microbeads, and resin in your cup. It should be a little thick because of the beads. Peel off the backing on one side of your keychain and apply the resin using a craft stick.

Add it in any blobby shape you’d like, or coat the whole thing. Cure.

Coat the other side with some clear resin (make sure you remove the backing). Use a craft stick to smooth it.

Zap it with the heat gun to remove air bubbles and to ensure a thorough, smooth coating.

Place your resin letters. They might glide a little, so make sure to move them back into place when you’re ready to cure.

Use tweezers to place any other small embellishments, such a the seashells, that you’d like to include. You can add a drop of resin on top of them if you’d like to coat them as well (I don’t find that these metal embellishments need to be under a layer of resin).

Cure your resin. Keep in mind that until it’s semi-cured things can move, so watch and nudge things back into place with a toothpick or tweezers if needed.

Attach a keyring through the hole – and your resin letter keychain is done!

If your hole got filled at any point, you can drill it back open (or remove the resin with a toothpick before you finish).

Method 2: Using Alphabet Molds

For this method, as you can see, I made three. I’ll be listing the embellishments and dyes separately for that reason.

I also found that using ball chain keychains instead of standard keyrings worked better thanks to the depth of the resin letter keychain.

Materials Needed

Embellishments and dyes:

Process

Since ALL my letters can be read both ways, I decided to work “front up”. That means that my bottom layer is the top layer of the keychain, and I worked towards the back.

Sine the mold is front-facing, this only works for letters like M, Y, A and not for those like B,C,D,E… For the A, I will show you how to do it so that the top layer is the front. On the M, I’ll show you how to do it backwards, like I did.

I like to do it backwards when I can because then the front ends up with the smooth finish of the mold. But it doesn’t work on all letters – so be aware of this before starting.

Backwards:

Fill your mold with the first layer of resin. This will be your topcoat.

Use a toothpick to nudge the resin into the corners and zap it with a heat gun.

Cure that first layer of resin. I do this before adding any embellishments because I want a solid smooth front with nothing poking out.

Pour in a drop more clear resin to serve as an adhesive, and add your embellishments. Play around, have fun. Zap it with a heat gun – DON’T skip this step.

Cure. I cure it at each level became I find that if I don’t it doesn’t cure thoroughly.

My background layer (the top of the M) was colored. Mix up your dye with resin in a cup.

Fill in the rest of the mold with the background color, heat gun, and cure.

Forwards:

Pour in your BACKGROUND color (here they were all straight resin). If using straight resin and not a color you can add your embellishments without curing. Don’t forget to zap with the heat gun.

Add embellishments. Nudge them in with the tweezers if needed. Baby’s breath is a little more challenging because it can poke out.

I added metallic flakes to this one as well. You can add more resin if you need it to hold the fill-ins, but leave space in the mold for a top coat that’ll completely seal in the fill-ins.

Zap with a heat gun, cure. Add a clear top coat and do the same: heat gun and cure.

For all keychains:

When it’s cured, pop it out of the mold.

Drill a hole using a rotary tool with a screw bit. I made a hole and put the keychain right through. You can also use screw-in eyes, but you will need to pre-drill too. If you don’t have the right size bit for that, you can seal it in place with more resin.

Be careful to go slow and DON’T push or you’ll crack your keychain.

Add a keychain! I found that it was a bit too thick for the standard keychain. The ball chain worked better.

You’ve mastered how to make a resin letter keychain! What do you want to try next? Comment below!

DIY Resin Letter Keychains - Two Ways!

DIY Resin Letter Keychains - Two Ways!

Materials

  • UV resin
  • UV resin lamp
  • Respirator mask
  • Gloves
  • Heat gun
  • Something to mix up resin in (I like silicone non-stick measuring cups that can be reused by curing the resin and peeling it off)
  • Large alphabet mold or small alphabet letters
  • Toothpick
  • Popsicle stick
  • Tweezers
  • Ball chain keychains or acrylic keychain blanks
  • Dremel tool
  • Embellishments and dyes

Instructions

Using an Acrylic Blank:

1. Mix your letter dye color with resin in the cup, pour into the mold. Zap with the heat gun and cure according to resin package instructions.

2. Mix together your dye, microbeads, and resin in your cup. It should be a little thick because of the beads. Peel off the backing on one side of your keychain and apply the resin using a craft stick.

3. Add it in any blobby shape you'd like, or coat the whole thing. Cure. Coat the other side with some clear resin (make sure you remove the backing). Use a craft stick to smooth it.

4. Zap it with the heat gun to remove air bubbles and to ensure a thorough, smooth coating.

5. Place your resin letters. They might glide a little, so make sure to move them back into place when you're ready to cure.

6. Use tweezers to place any other small embellishments, such a the seashells, that you'd like to include. You can add a drop of resin on top of them if you'd like to coat them as well (I don't find that these metal embellishments need to be under a layer of resin).

7. Cure your resin. Keep in mind that until it's semi-cured things can move, so watch and nudge things back into place with a toothpick or tweezers if needed. Attach a keyring through the hole - and your resin letter keychain is done!

Using alphabet molds:

1. Fill your mold with the first layer of resin. This will be your topcoat. Use a toothpick to nudge the resin into the corners and zap it with a heat gun.

2. Cure that first layer of resin. I do this before adding any embellishments because I want a solid smooth front with nothing poking out.

3. Pour in a drop more clear resin to serve as an adhesive, and add your embellishments. Play around, have fun. Zap it with a heat gun - DON'T skip this step.

4, Cure. I cure it at each level became I find that if I don't it doesn't cure thoroughly.

5. Fill in the rest of the mold with the background color, heat gun, and cure.

Did you make this project?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

© Menucha CC

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